The Riverside is located at the spot
where Reno beganPhoto by Charles Miller,
Courtesy of Nevada State Historic Preservation Office

The Riverside Hotel sits on the exact location where Reno began in 1859.
C.W. Fuller operated a log building here that provided food and shelter
to gold-seekers who were passing through the area in the reverse gold
rush called the "Rush to Washoe," spurred by the gold, and later silver,
strikes of the famous Comstock Lode. Myron Lake owned the property from
1861 into the 1880s, running consecutive hotel businesses under the name
Lake's House. After Lake's death, his daughter and son-in-law operated
the hotel and renamed it the Riverside. A subsequent owner, Harry Gosse,
converted the small frame building into a lavish brick hotel, retaining
the name Riverside. This version of the Riverside Hotel was destroyed
in a fire. Gosse intended to rebuild but was unable to finance the project
and George Wingfield, Reno's most powerful man at the time, acquired the
property.

Nevada's pre-eminent architect and former mining engineer Frederic
DeLongchamps designed the 1927 version of the Riverside Hotel for George
Wingfield. At six stories high, the Riverside was Reno's tallest building
at the time of its construction. For the building's design, DeLongchamps
employed the rich red brick, so common in Reno, with contrasting cream-colored
Gothic Revival style terra cotta detailing. Situated as it is along
the picturesque Truckee River, next to the Washoe
County Courthouse, also designed by DeLongchamps, it is easy to
see why the Riverside was Reno's most elegant and popular hotel. Following
the passage of the liberal 1931 divorce law, George Wingfield installed
an enormous roof sign advertising the hotel in glowing neon that was
visible all over the Truckee Meadows. The Riverside had an international
reputation and was mentioned in nearly all of the novels and films featuring
Reno divorces.

Historic postcard of the Riverside
Hotel, with the Washoe County Courthouse behind itCourtesy of Joy Fisher, USGenWeb Penny Postcard Collection

The Riverside Hotel was laid out to suit wealthy divorce-seekers, with
40 corner suites that included kitchen facilities and connecting rooms
for children and servants. Each of the apartment suites was furnished
with a specially designed cork-insulated and tile-lined refrigerator.
Cold brine was circulated through the refrigerators from the main refrigeration
plant in the basement. There were 60 single rooms for shorter stays as
well. Such a room was occupied by Clare Boothe (award-winning author,
editor of Vanity Fair, congresswomanand ambassador) when
she arrived in Reno in 1929 to divorce her husband George Brokaw: "Her
train arrived in Reno at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 6, 1929, in
a fierce blizzard. Clare's mood turned bleak as the weather when she discovered
that her reserved apartment at the Riverside Hotel (a red brick building
between the Truckee River and the courthouse) was occupied and that she
would have to settle for a 'cubby hole' of a room for the first three
days."1

The Riverside Hotel was the spot most watched by news correspondents
who had been sent to cover the national phenomenon journalist Walter
Winchell dubbed Renovation. Reno had nearly as many reporters
on hand as divorce-seekers, with news bureaus representing Associated
Press, United Press, International News Service, the Sacramento Bee
and the New York Daily News, all looking for an exclusive story.
The Riverside Hotel has been rehabilitated and converted into living/studio
spaces for artists, with funding assistance through the Nevada State
Historic Preservation Office and the Federal
Historic Preservation Tax Incentive Program.

The Riverside Hotel is located at 17 South Virginia St. in Reno.
The main lobby is open to the public.